After Mr. Romney’s remarks drew criticism, his campaign said that The Associated Press had “grossly mischaracterized” the remarks by not providing the full context. For instance, the campaign said, after mentioning the per capita G.D.P. of Israel and Palestine, Mr. Romney also said: “And that is also between other countries that are near or next to each other. Chile and Ecuador, Mexico and the United States.”

So that means that the reason why Mexico has worse economic performance than the United States is also due to “culture.”

Note to David Axelrod: millions of viewers of Spanish-language television should know that Mitt Romney thinks that their ancestral culture is inferior. Just a thought.